Oh God. Oh God, I’m losing it.
The baby.Alexei’sbaby. The last piece of him left in this world.
Another cramp hits and I gasp, clutching my stomach like I can somehow hold everything inside through sheer force of will. Tears blur my vision as I stagger toward the door, donning my forgotten nightgown with shaking hands. Blood drips down my thighs and onto the carpet, leaving a trail behind me. I’ll bemortified about later if there is a later, if everything isn’t about to fall apart?—
This is punishment.
The thought slams into me.
You betrayed him. You had sex with his brother. You fell for Dimitri. And now you’re paying for it.
“No,” I whisper. “No, please?—”
My voice breaks on a sob. I grab the doorframe for support, my legs threatening to give out beneath me. Every step sends fresh waves of pain through my abdomen and makes more blood trickle down my thighs.
I’m going to lose this baby. The innocent life that did nothing wrong except be conceived by two people who thought they had a future together.
This is my fault. For sleeping with Dimitri. For wanting him. For betraying Alexei’s memory while carrying his child.
I wrench the door open and scream.
“DIMITRI!”
Footsteps thunder up the stairs. A guard appears at the end of the hallway (I don’t know his name, one of the five who stayed after Dimitri dismissed most of the security). He takes one look at me and goes pale.
“Mrs. Volkov?—”
“Get Dimitri,” I gasp. “Please. The baby?—”
He’s already speaking rapidly into his radio in Russian words I don’t understand, but the urgency comes through clearly.
Then more footsteps, faster this time, and suddenly Dimitri is there.
His white dress shirt sleeves are rolled up to his elbows exposing strong forearms dusted with dark hair. His hair is disheveled and it’s obvious he hasn’t shaved because there’s stubble darkening his sharp jaw.
He stops dead when he sees me.
The color drains from his face—that olive skin going pale, making his eyes seem even more startling by contrast. Those full lips part on a shocked inhale and for a heartbeat, he just stares—at the blood soaking through my nightgown, dripping onto the carpet, at the way I’m doubled over clutching my stomach, at the tears streaming down my face.
Terror transforms his features. His brows draw together, those sharp cheekbones seeming to cut even more prominently as his jaw clenches. Every line of his tall, powerful frame goes rigid with fear.
“Vera.” My name is barely a whisper.
Then he’s moving, closing the distance between us in four strides. He scoops me up like I weigh nothing, cradling me against his chest as he carries me back toward the bed.
“Get Dr. Petrov here NOW,” he barks at the guard. “I don’t care what he's doing or if he’s in surgery. Get him here in the next fifteen minutes or I’ll burn his fucking practice to the ground.”
The guard disappears. Dimitri sets me down on the bed with a gentleness that contradicts the violence in his voice. His handsshake as he pulls the blood-soaked nightgown away from my skin, and he grabs a towel from the bathroom to press between my legs.
“It’s okay,” he says, and his voice is steady even though his hands aren’t. But I can see the terror in his eyes. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
He's lying. I can tell he’s lying. This isn’t okay.Nothingabout this is okay.
“The baby—” I sob, feeling my heart break. I love this baby so much with an intensity that shocks me because how can I love someone I’ve never even met? “Dimitri, I’m losing?—”
“You don’t know that.” He cups my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You don’t know that, Vera. We’re going to wait for Dr. Petrov and he’s going to check and everything is going to befine.”
But another cramp tears through me and I cry out, my whole body jerking. Dimitri makes a sound low in his throat that sounds like despair and he pulls me against his chest.
